Star profile
Kappa Cancri
Variable starWhat is Kappa Cancri
Kappa Cancri is a blue variable B-type star in the discreet zodiacal Crab, 531 light-years away. Its brightness shifts gently, behaviour typical of many hot stars with magnetic fields or peculiar chemical compositions. Cancer is one of the dimmer zodiac constellations, but it hosts the famous Beehive cluster, and blue stars like this one punctuate the edges of a celestial figure traditionally tied to the crab sent by Hera against Heracles.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa Cancri lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is February: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Kappa Cancri
- Constellation
- Cancer
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.23
- Distance
- 531.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 136.937° · Dec 10.668°
- Catalogue
- HIP 44798 · HD 78316
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cancer
Cancer has 49 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- TarfBeta Cancri3.53
- Asellus AustralisDelta Cancri3.94
- Iota Cancri4.03
- Omicron 1 Cancri5.22
- Rho 2 Cancri5.23
- Sigma 3 Cancri5.23
- Mu 2 Cancri5.30
- Theta Cancri5.33